Astronomy & Astrophysics Seminar: The New Frontier of Interstellar Objects
Professor Avi Loeb, Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard University
Zoom: https://tau-ac-il.zoom.us/j/87185167411?pwd=FpTUyIgXaOturzOFSetA6pPVYQilen.1
Abstract:
Over the past decade, the first four interstellar objects were discovered. They include the interstellar meteor, IM1, detected on January 8, 2014, `Oumuamua detected on October 19, 2017, Borisov detected on August 29, 2019 and 3I/ATLAS detected on July 1, 2025. Among these, the second and fourth appeared anomalous relative to known solar-system rocks whereas the third appeared to be a familiar comet. IM1 exhibited the highest material strength among all meteorites in the CNEOS catalog of NASA. In June 2023 we recovered 850 spherules from the Pacific Ocean site IM1. A tenth of these submillimeter meteoritic spherules displayed a unique chemical composition, different from familiar solar system materials.
`Oumuamua featured a flat shape and non-gravitational acceleration with no detectable cometary evaporation. 3I/ATLAS has 13 anomalies, including a trajectory aligned to within 5 degrees of the ecliptic plane. Currently, new Galileo Project Observatories are monitoring millions of objects near Earth in the infrared, optical, radio and audio and analyzing their nature with machine-learning software. Forthcoming data from the Rubin Observatory in Chile will offer additional clues on the nature of interstellar objects. Is space trash from extraterrestrial technological civilizations lurking among the natural interstellar rocks?
Seminar Organizer: Dr. Jonathan Stern
